Starting Now, I'm Starting Over

To understand what someone else is going through. What kind of sentiment is that? Empathy, how do I get more of it. Just live a different life? Change all of my core beliefs? So confusing and frustrating yet there are so many simple ideas that are supposed to change my entire life for the better. Decisions on a moment to moment basis. All the anguish I have ever felt in my life washed away by a single compliment I give another person. Or when my neighbor offers me a ride to the Trax Station on my way to work. Are these acts of service? I always felt so. I don't really know that much about acting on behalf of other people.

I lost my phone after my computer broke for about a month. During that time I realized that I needed something to organize my thoughts. I used an R2-D2 Star Wars notebook I got from a secret santa exchange with my family at Sharon and Dan's house, and an insurance pad that my mom gave me to write down all my thoughts in. Positive affirmations seem to make such a huge difference. Even though most of them I thought of, they seem as though they come from a greater place. Some part of my mind that is more in tune with the secrets of the universe. 

I went to a Young Singles Adult ward's Family Home Evening for the second time on Monday 8/1/16. The person in charge of the spiritual lesson used a quote from C.S. Lewis. 

“There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously - no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption.”

It is hard to remember to treat other's with sincerity but I think it makes it easier if you think of all other people as immortal beings. I don't really know what I think. Like I said in another post of mine I don't know if there is an after life. Even so I can still treat others with respect while still employing my playful ridiculous personality. It's hard to remember that all people are created as equals but I think this quote can help everyone, If not especially me, to remember that acting with a lack of seriousness and respect for all life is simply a waste of time. 

I would act frivolously and expect others to pick up my slack. It wasted their time and it wasted mine because I couldn't do the things I wanted to get done. Even then I would end up blaming them for my short comings. I really want to begin to treat others with respect, instead of only thinking about my self at all times. There are no normal people. I love you if you are reading this. If you aren't, I love you just the same. You just may not know it yet. ;)